IndyCar: Did Fernando Alonso have another undisclosed plan?

Fernando Alonso is set to compete in the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren SP this May. But was he set to compete in another IndyCar race, one that was recently canceled?

After months of on-and-off speculation, IndyCar team Arrow McLaren SP confirmed last month that two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso is set to drive for the team in the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

This 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval in Speedway, Indiana is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 24, but that remains subject to change given the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic.

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The first four races on the 17-race 2020 IndyCar schedule were already called off, meaning that the schedule is now not set to get underway until Saturday, May 9 with the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

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Alonso last competed in an IndyCar race in 2017 when he drove for Andretti Autosport via a partnership with McLaren, his Formula 1 team at the time, in the Indy 500. He qualified in fifth place and led 27 laps before an engine failure with 21 laps remaining knocked him out of the race. He was officially scored in 24th.

He attempted to return to the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in 2019 following his impressive rookie performance, but driving for McLaren, he failed to even qualify for the race, so he still only has one start to his credit in America’s premier open-wheel racing series.

But he did test at Barber Motorsports Park for Andretti Autosport back in September of 2018, and according to a report, he was also slated to prepare for the Indy 500 with Arrow McLaren SP in the race at this track this season.

Here is what he had to say, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo.

"“After Dakar I had a month of vacation and I was in the mountains skiing, spending time with myself and the family. Then I was preparing for the Indy 500. I was in the simulator and I was going to go to the Barber race to see how the team worked, but then everything stopped.”"

This 90-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.83-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama had been scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 5, but it was one of the four events that was wiped off the calendar due to the threat of COVID-19.

There had been reports of Alonso possibly running an expanded schedule in 2020, but nothing was publicly confirmed as far as which non-Indy 500 races he might attempt.

Would he actually have competed in this race, or would he have just attended to see how the team operated with full-time drivers Patricio O’Ward and rookie Oliver Askew?

By the sound of it, he was set to compete before it was knocked off the calendar.

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With Fernando Alonso having seemingly been in line to compete at Barber Motorsports Park before it was wiped off the IndyCar schedule, could he compete in any other non-Indianapolis 500 races on the 2020 schedule? At this point, nobody really knows anything about the 2020 season as it is, given how fluid and unprecedented the current situation is.